West Lake East (Hubin)

Hubin is what most visitors mean when they say West Lake. The eastern shore is the urban edge of the lake, where the Hangzhou city centre meets the water in a continuous strip of historic gardens, classical pavilions, and pedestrian promenade. The Bai Causeway crosses the northern arm towards Solitary Hill (Gushan), home to Zhejiang Provincial Museum and the original Xiling Seal Engravers' Society — the leading institution of Chinese seal-carving art.

The Broken Bridge (Duanqiao) is the most photographed individual landmark, named not because it is broken but because in winter snow appears to break against its central span. The bridge appears in every Hangzhou postcard sequence and is the backdrop for the Legend of the White Snake, the most famous folk-tale set on West Lake.

Xihu Tiandi (West Lake Tiandi), at the southeastern corner of the lake, is the high-end retail quarter that mirrors Shanghai's Xintiandi: restored old merchant buildings now housing international fashion, jewellery, and dining. The walk south along the lake from Hubin Avenue passes through Liulang Wenying (Listening to Orioles by the Willows), one of the canonical Ten Scenes of West Lake.

In the Republican period this area was where Chiang Kai-shek and other senior figures kept lakeside villas. Several of those buildings — the Westlake State Guest House, the former Mao Zedong residence at Wang Hill — survive as guesthouses or small museums.